National news in brief, 12/17

PHOENIX — An Arizona prosecutor planned no immediate action to address federal government concerns that Sheriff Joe Arpaio's office committed widespread constitutional violations and discrimination against Latinos, saying Friday that the U.S. Justice Department report wouldn't be taken at "face value."

Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery said he was asking President Barack Obama to order the restoration of access to federal systems revoked Thursday.

Florida

Drum major death ruled a homicide

ORLANDO — A Florida A&M University drum major was severely beaten in a hazing incident and died within an hour, the state medical examiner said Friday in declaring it a homicide.

Robert Champion, 26, had bruises to his chest, arms, shoulder and back and internal bleeding that caused him to go into shock, which killed him, the office said.

Champion's Nov. 19 death and the severe beating of another band member during a hazing ritual three weeks earlier have brought new scrutiny to a culture of hazing within the school's famed Marching 100.

California

Conflicting reports on air tanker use

LOS ANGELES — Federal investigators Friday revealed conflicting accounts of why an air tanker was not summoned in the early hours of what became the largest wildfire in Los Angeles County history, but concluded it's not possible to know if different decisions would have curtailed the damage.

The 2009 Station Fire killed two firefighters, destroyed 89 homes and blackened 250 square miles on the edge of Los Angeles, and residents who were burned out have long complained the U.S. Forest Service failed to bring in enough firefighters and aircraft to halt the spreading flames.

District of Columbia

9 states win early education grants

WASHINGTON — Nine states won a collective $500 million Friday from the federal government to help make pre-k and other early learning programs more accessible and better capable of narrowing the achievement gap between those who start kindergarten without any formal schooling and those who do.

California, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island and Washington state were announced as winners at the White House.

Comet survives encounter with sun

WASHINGTON — A small comet survived what astronomers figured would be a sure death when it danced uncomfortably close to the broiling sun.

Comet Lovejoy, which was only discovered a couple of weeks ago, was supposed to melt Thursday night when it came close to where temperatures hit several million degrees.